Irritation
by Feilyn
Summary: She is the single most irritating person I've ever had the misfortune to meet, and for some reason I can't function without her.' Naru watches Mai sleep, and dream, on the job.
1. Chapter 1

_Hi! This is the first chapter of a two-shot. I just finished watching the anime of Ghost Hunt this weekend and this story is based on that, but also the information found on the Wikipedia website, so there are __**spoilers**__ for the whole Oliver/Gene situation. It's kind of mixed up, not entirely in canon, but the characters are as in-character as I can get them, and people tell me that's pretty good. So, I don't own Ghost Hunt, in case you hadn't guessed and here's the first chapter of Irritation!_

xXx

She is the single most irritating person I've ever had the misfortune to meet, and for some reason I can't function properly without her.

I can see her sleeping from my position against my office doorframe. She usually jumps to attention whenever I call for tea, no matter how annoyed she is with me at the time, but this time my call was met with silence.

Oh, she's always annoyed at me. It just comes in varying degrees of intensity.

The only thing that _does_ keep her from making my tea – remarkably good, which must be the reason my mind won't even begin to comprehend the thought of letting her go. It's so hard to find someone who knows _just how_ to—

I really must stop going off on these tangents, even in my own head. It makes for muddled thoughts, and in my profession muddled thoughts have often lead to death.

Not mine, of course. Because my thoughts are never muddled.

Ever.

So the only thing that keeps her from making my tea is her sleep. How does she manage to fall asleep all the time, anyway? She's always the first to go out when we do an over-nighter on a job, although that could be her age and disposition. But still, with all the sleep she gets a night, why does she need to nap at work? It's irresponsible. Especially when I want tea.

I should wake her up and fire her right now, except it's almost impossible to bring her back to the world of the living when she's out like she is.

Oh, god. I just made a pun. And a bad one at that. It's a well known fact at SPR that generally the only way Mai can communicate with spirits is through her dreams.

I wonder if she's dreaming now. We're not on a case and the idea of the SPR office being haunted is ridiculous, so probably not but still…

I've been standing here for the last ten minutes, I think. It's awfully magnanimous of me to be so patient, waiting for her to wake instead of slapping her across the face so she can get me some tea. Except that the slapping thing is usually Matsuzaki's deal, not mine. I don't think she's actually moved at—

She just made a noise. A moan. And not a happy moan, either. More like a 'Holy-fuck-get-me-the-hell-out-of-here' moan. Like the time she saw that maid's death. When she _was_ that maid.

And now she's moving, making pathetic little groaning noises and generally looking like she's in the throes of a nightmare. A bad one.

I've got this odd itching feeling somewhere in my head. It's the same one I get every time she says she hates me, and when she called me a murderer once and that time I exposed one of my biggest secrets to everyone because she yelled at me.

Coincidence.

My hand just twitched out towards her. I stare down at it, incredulous. It's angled out at about hip-height, maybe a tad higher, reaching towards her and I can't for the life of me understand why.

A scream reverberates through the office as she jerks upright. Her eyes are wild and her lips form a word but I can't quite—

"_Naru!_"

Oh.

I think about running to her to see what's wrong – after all, it wouldn't do to have her so incapacitated with fear she couldn't make me tea anymore – except suddenly I'm already there without even moving. I can't tell if I moved unconsciously or if I used PK to shift the whole dam room forwards, but I guess if I collapse we'll know. Lin bursts into the office just as Mai throws herself at me, grabbing my shirt in her small fists and sobbing incoherently into my shirt.

It's the first time I've worn this thing, and it's covered in snot and tears. Brilliant. Except somehow, the girl in my arms is more important than a ridiculously expensive silk shirt.

Lin sort of skids to a stop upon seeing Mai clinging so desperately to me. I shoot him a look that obviously says 'help me!'

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything."

"She screamed at you."

"She was _asleep_…and also, what else is new?"

Behind his hair, Lin is looking vaguely suspicious but he returns to his office as I tentatively try unhooking Mai from my shirt.

"I hate you," she mumbles wetly. "Why did you die?"

I froze, hand on her shoulder. "What did you see?"

A long pause and I almost make an attempt to shake the answer from her but for some reason my hand won't move. Then there was no reason for it too as she started speaking, so quietly I had to lean even closer to hear her.

"It started off the same as always," she was whispering. "You – you were there and you said you had something to tell me so I followed you."

Waitwaitwait. She dreams about me? Always?

"You started walking down the street, holding me hand." Her voice was small, broken. "I tried to pull you back, because something horrible was about to happen, but it was like I wasn't even there…except you kept on turning back and smiling."

I never smile.

"And then you let go of my hand and told me to stay there as you crossed the road and I swear, I tried to run after you but my feet wouldn't move. And...and then a car just came out of nowhere and hit you—" Her voice cracks. "And you died."

My hands are shaking, which is odd. I know this story. I've heard it before, told it once or twice.

So why won't my hands stop shaking?

"But it didn't end there," Mai breathes hoarsely. "They were swearing as they got out of the car and then they picked you up and threw you in the trunk…" She hiccups, and despite the situation, it's kind of cute. "They threw you in a lake. They just threw you in a lake so you wouldn't be found."

"Did you get a number plate?" I ask harshly. She's grieving, it sucks, but I've been through this and I came out all right. What's important now is getting that plate.

"You're going to stop them before it happens?" she's asking hopefully, peering up at me through red-rimmed eyes.

"It has already happened, Mai, now tell me the plate!"

She stumbles back and stares at me, wide-eyed. "N-Naru?"

So far as I recall, I don't think I've raised my voice beyond speaking level in Mai's presence, ever. But this was my brother we were speaking about, and everything changed when it came to Gene.

However, it seems that everything changes when it comes to Mai as well, because the sight of her big brown eyes filling with tears once again made me feel like a total bastard.

Oh, who am I kidding? I am a total bastard, but she's the only person who can make me feel bad about it. I think I hate myself a little for that, but I hate myself even more for hating myself. Does that make sense? My thoughts are muddling again because of her goddamned eyes.

"Wh-what do you mean it's already happened?" she stutters. I watch as she suddenly switches from distraught to distraught and angry, punching me in the shoulder and yelling at me. "What do you mean? Naru, I saw you _die!_ Do have any idea what that's like? To see the person you love _killed_ in front of your eyes?" She flops back into her chair and those eyes shimmer up at me. "Why is it always me?"

I wasn't sure why it was always her because I was concentrating more on what she'd said before.

Love? How did love come into it? Did she—

"Are you in love with my brother?" I asked bluntly.

"Your brother? You don't have a brother! Naru, why aren't you listening to me, I said…" And now she's trailing off, off, hand lifting to cover her mouth as her eyes, if possible, widen even more. "No I didn't. I didn't say anything."

"You thought it was me," I reiterated slowly, trying to get everything straight in my head. Death wasn't an option here.

She's steadfastly refusing to say anything, hands clamped tightly over her mouth.

"I'll take your silence as a yes, seeing as you don't seem to be refuting it. So you thought it was me. You saw who you thought was me killed and thrown into the lake, and next you will say you saw the number plate, yes?"

Mai glares at me from behind her hands and then suddenly she's leapt from her chair once again and hitting me, clenched fists banging against my chest. "You bastard! You complete and utter _bastard! _Oh, I hate you _so_ much! I just totally bared my heart to you, on_ accident_ nonetheless and you're ignoring it? Just like that?"

"So you're not in love with my brother."

"_You don't have a brother!_" A pause. "Do you?"

I sighed, shoving my hair back from my forehead. This really was too much to analyse at one time. Love? With me? Well, I certainly wasn't showing up in her dreams as anything other than a figment of her imagination and you'd have to be an idiot to fall in love with me other any other circumstances. I mean, everyone lusts after me, but I'm not the sort of person people love.

I played that back. _You'd have to be an idiot…_

Oh. Right.

But still, from what I'd heard so far, it sounded like Gene had been guiding Mai's dreams since we'd met and he was always the type of person people fell in love with.

And speaking of Mai, she was staring up at me with that annoying adorable confused look that generally made me want to tell her the answer to everything whenever she wore it. Now wasn't any different, and I'd already given away too much.

"I had a brother," I find myself saying. "A twin. Gene – Eugene. He died a few years ago, in the exact same manner you just described. We had a telepathic connection, augmented by our collective abilities. I saw it happen, but I don't know who did it. That's why I'm here."

Her face is twisting sympathetically even as she struggles with that. "But…Shibuya Eugene?" She stumbles over the pronunciation. "It doesn't—"

"It's not," I cut her off shortly. "In the English form, his name was Eugene Davis." I hesitate, but the point of no return is long gone. "My real name is Oliver."

xXx

_Reviews are motivation and motivation results in chapters, so please review! And thanks for reading._


	2. Chapter 2

_Alright, second chapter and, oh my god, what an overwhelming response to the first one! I think that may be the most reviews I've ever got in a single night, and it's kind of strange, because there are only like, 230 stories on here, and I usually write in larger fandoms with more readers. Maybe the proportion of readers here is just that much greater to the writing proportion? Anyway, thanks so much for reading and reviewing, and here's the rest of Irritation!_

xXx

I watch that sink in, see the realisation spark in her eyes. "Th-that – you're—"

"Oliver Davis. That Oliver Davis, yes. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone."

It appears I wasn't the only one who'd been partially shocked out of their mind. Mai shook her head and I saw her stowing everything away to be examined at a later stage.

"Alright. I – I guess that kind of make sense. And so now you want to know who killed him. Gene. And I just saw it." A frown blossoms as she obviously fights to remember. "The number plate…it was…" And then she grins and it's like the whole office suddenly lit up. I guess she's got a light bulb stowed in her head instead of a brain, except if that was so, she wouldn't have been able to reel off the number plate of the car belonging to the people who killed my brother like she did just now.

I closed my eyes and sank into the chair conveniently beside me. It was over. Mai's dream wouldn't hold up in court – she'd have to be a member of the police for that to work, but at least now I knew. I could find out who the people were and set Gene's spirit to rest.

I could go home.

"Naru? Are – are you alright?"

Cracking a proper smile for the first time in years, I observe that the resulting look on Mai's face is similar to that of a deer caught in headlights. A faint dusting of red decorates her cheeks and her eyes are so wide they almost pop out. She needs a different expression.

"I'm fine, actually."

"Good."

She's talking to my brother, I realised. Well, it wasn't a realisation as such; more of a sledgehammer to the head. He leads her dreams. He talks to her every night. He's a hell of a lot nicer than I could ever be. I bet she's never called him a murderer.

Suddenly I was feeling jealous of my dead brother. Great.

We sat in silence. I was trying to convince myself I wasn't fuming and she toyed with the edge of her skirt, thinking god only knows what.

"I'm not – I really didn't mean your brother," she blurts, laughing nervously. "I mean, I didn't even know he was your brother. I didn't even know you _had_ a brother."

"That means nothing. It's obvious the person you think you've fallen in love with is the Naru of your dreams, regardless of whether he's a creation of your imagination or the spirit of my brother. It's quite impossible for the object of your supposed affections to be me, Oliver Davis."

She punched me.

In retrospect, it really shouldn't have surprised me all that much. She has a short temper and she never really seemed to be the kind of girl to slap a person unless they were delirious.

"Argh! I don't even know why I did it! I must be the stupidest person on earth!"

That punch really did hurt, I muse, rubbing my cheek. "Well, you did fall in love with a spirit."

This time I managed to grab her wrist before the clenched fist connected with my face. I stood up and jerked her towards me, staring down at her.

"Stop hitting me," I whisper.

She squeaked.

Of course she squeaked. My brother and I are _identical_ twins.

We're not moving. Seriously. She's not stepping back and I'm not stepping back and we're both kind of staring at each other while I hold her wrist.

"Uh…Naru? You're hurting me," she says softly, tripping over her words somewhat.

I loosen my grip on her arm, but somehow words are beyond me. I never noticed just how fascinating her eyes were, deep brown with flecks of gold swimming in the rich colour.

And then all of a sudden she's glaring at me and before I have time to process that she's reached up, anchored her free hand behind my neck and pulled me down for the clumsiest kiss I've ever experienced.

It was cute. Good god, are there truly no other adjectives to describe this girl? She was obviously inexperienced, so what else was I to do but to show her what a _real _kiss was like?

Forget muddled, my mind fuzzed right over as she proved to be a fast-learner. Well, say rather that the world excluding the two of us fuzzed over and everything else became crystal clear, loathe as I am to use such an antiquated expression. I could feel her hand twitching on my neck, her wrist shifting slightly in my loose grasp and the curve of her hip under my own hand.

And she's pulling away now (why?), grinning up at me and—

And she just flicked me on the nose. Hard, actually. I wasn't aware that nose-flicking could be so painful.

I frown down at her.

"What was that for?"

"You're an idiot, that's what it was for."

"You, Taniyama Mai, are calling me an idiot."

Ouch. She did it again.

"Yes you are. You should know that it's the guy who's meant to take the first step. I'm not some stupid little girl who'd sit around pining – well, not anymore – but still, if you felt that way you should have kissed me after I told you how I felt." She pulls her wrist from my hand and huffs, folding her arms. "That's the way it's meant to go."

She looks remarkably put together for someone who just participated in _that_ kiss. Well, her lips are red and her hair is somehow mussed which is odd because I don't recall touching it, but still. She manages to carry it off as if she walks around like that all day.

She doesn't, does she?

"I'm sorry if I was concentrating more on you discovering my brother's murderers," I deadpan. "Plus, you could argue that I _did_ make the first move. You of all people wouldn't have had the guts to kiss me if I hadn't pulled you up, after all."

"I might have," she protests. "And whatever! You _could_ argue that, yes, but you won't because if you do, you won't be getting anymore kisses from Taniyama Mai, uh uh."

"Who says I want them?" I snark. After all, a kiss doesn't prove anything. If she still sticks around after this, I'll –tentatively – give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she isn't in love with my brother. If she doesn't…well, I guess I'm going back to England.

She's opened her mouth to retort something back, but the light bulb goes off again and she's smiling. "You're still an idiot."

"I wish you'd stop doing that."

"Well you _are_. I mean, so what if you can throw big blocks of whatever into walls and know fifteen different languages? You still can't read kanji, and you still can't read me. I'm not going anywhere."

"So you're not in love with my brother." I'm not entirely sure how many times I've asked that.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Naru! See, this is what I mean by idiot. If I was in love with Gene, do you think I would have kissed you?" She's already using his nickname. Probably not a good sign.

"We do look exactly the same," I point out.

"Oh, you _so_ do not. Gene couldn't pull of that pathetic little self-deprecating _smirk_ if he tried. Which he wouldn't, but whatever. I know the difference between the two of you, and I am not in love with Gene!"

I didn't know she knew a word like self-deprecating.

She's stopped smiling now, and her bottom lip is sticking out in an adorable little pout.

There. A different adjective. Never mind it's a synonym.

"You're not listening to me, are you?" She sighs. "So I guess you just participated in that kiss for what, entertainment? Well fine. Either you didn't mean it, or you're too gutless to admit that you did. And you're not exactly the type of person who gets afraid, so I guess that means I'm going."

She's not going to go. What would she do? It's not like she gets brilliant marks at school, how is she going to pay her rent?

She's walking away.

She can't go. She has friends here, at SPR. And – there's me! No one leaves me behind, I'm too good looking!

Her hand is on the door knob.

_She's not going_

She hasn't looked back.

"Mai!"

Damn it. Weak, pathetic little—

Oh. She's smiling, turning around. I didn't really see that coming.

"You know, Naru, I love the fact that you have your pride, but sometimes it really does get in the way," she's laughing.

I stare, mouth slightly open.

"Shut your mouth, you look like Bou-san."

I smirk despite myself, in the process following her order.

Well, there really is nothing else for it. I've already called her back, and she's not going to leave.

So I kiss her.

It lasts longer than the last one, but she's still the first to pull back.

"How did you know I wouldn't let you go?" I whisper.

She grins up at me. "Well, who else would make your tea?"

xXx

_Alright, that's the end! I hope you liked it!_

_.:F:._


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